Construction workers are very confused however. If the building sites do not close, the tubes and trains will remain packed.

However I do agree. This is the step forward we needed.

Hi David, I think the issue is not your risk of catching it, which is the same as anyone else that behaves in the same way, but your impaired ability to fight the virus.

Please stay safe.

I doubt they will stay open and I don't think they should.

I hope you stay safe David and I am sure you will as you are a pretty reasonable guy.

One thing that remains a mystery to me is why construction sites in London are still open. Apparently a lot of the people using the tube are construction workers. Surely after today's announcement they should close immediately?

PS: I'm pleased to see that some of the people on my street who are having home improvements done have kicked out their builders and tradesmen. I'm told they didn't take kindly to it in some cases.

Good performance from Boris it has to be said - clearly the next step is Business's will shut in 3 weeks if this fails 

That's an interesting thought 

In which case you call a tradesman!

Good option, Brian.

Provided you wear gloves and have hand gel you should be OK if you absolutely need to drive somewhere but I understand the caution.

I've been eyeing our daily paper slightly suspiciously of late.  Probably an overreaction but I'm becoming hypersensitive to the risks.

Went to top up one of the cars with fuel today and someone said 'use the plastic gloves please'.  When I paid I used contactless and the guy kind of pushed the reader in my direction and then stepped back.  

In the local store people were being allowed in slowly so that there were only a handful inside the shop and everyone in the queue was keeping their distance.

We went for a walk this afternoon and saw just one family doing the same thing and only two or three cars on the road when there would usually be perhaps a dozen.

The message has got through here.

I had asked eon to postpone my 'smart' meter installation today, but they were adamant they wanted to do it today, so I said fine, but they won't be allowed in the house and I talked to them via my mobile phone (they needed the power cut etc.). 

Dead right. Take away the excuses.

Hi Peter, yes I agree entirely. I actually feel quite reassured now having had the call from my hospital than I did beforehand.

One issue which has been cleared up for me is that I am currently due to attend my hospital for a half-hour infusion of one of my IBD medications on Tuesday 7th April. The doctor I spoke to advised  that at the moment, it is still scheduled to go ahead as planned and the Medical Day Unit which will oversee it is, at the moment at least, still operating as close to normal as possible. If there are any changes between now and 7th April, they will advise me as appropriate. If I am required to wear a mask while there, they will get no objection from me.

Look after yourself, your family and all other people close to you. As one of Boris Johnson's predecessors once said, albeit in a very different context, "We're all in this together".

Knew it was coming, and can't argue with the logic, but this has hit me hard.

I guess I'm not going into work tomorrow to get some stuff I really could do with to help work from home. Was the last day the office was going to be open. 

Feeling a horrible combination of numbness, panic, anger, worry. 

Quite what our economy is going to look like after this, I'm terrified to consider.

In case you haven`t noticed most businesses are already shut!! Do keep up.

If Esso is an option they have an app which enables you to pay at the pump using your phone. 

Refilled at Tesco today. Despite big notices saying Pay at Pump if at all possible, two or three prople went straight into the kiosk - though they may have been getting milk etc.

Non-essential shops which must now close include:

• Clothing and electronics stores.


• Hair, beauty and nail salons.


• Outdoor and indoor markets, excluding food markets.

There is another way you can see it. Cummings changed his mind 10 days ago (when the modelling changed) and he started proposing 'shut down everything'. It then took him 10 days to convince Johnson by using lots of scary projections.

On top of that, learned tonight that a friend of ours is in hospital on a ventilator with pneumonia, got rushed in at the weekend. We were at her 50th last summer. She spent yesterday in resusc.

ermmmmmmmmmmm o wise one no they aint , we have a 600 customer base and no one is shutting until they are told 

PLEASE KEEP UP! and live in the real world 

The Met Police are not happy at all.

No they’re not.  Most office based businesses are being run from dining rooms across the country!

Sorry, Rob, there's no basis for that and it feels like unnecessary scaremongering.  More likely, like every other decision, they're being guided by the science.  In this case it's more likely to be 'this is what will happpen if we don't implement th we measures', not a case of 'this is happening'.  As Boris said this is being stepped up because of the stupid behaviour at the weekend by a minority who either haven't got the message or decided it didn't apply to them.

It's appropriate in this context to recount an interview I heard on BBC R5 last night with a lorry driver. He'd just gone eight days without a hot meal because everything on the mainland was shut down and had a hot meal on the ferry: lots of people sitting together eating. He asked a guy serving when he'd be wearing a mask and was told "it's all overblown, mate. This is all nonsense."   

That's what we're up against.

Hi David - no, neither of us has any underlying health issues we are aware of - we have just been following the advice given, keeping away from family and friends. Have had to make a couple of trips to the supermarket for essential items and to get the tyres replaced, but that is it.

Sorry to hear you have IBD - take care and keep safe.